ATA seeks freight program, accepts diesel tax hike

ATA seeks freight program, accepts diesel tax hike    The American Trucking Associations' board of directors on Tuesday began working out details for the organization's policy proposal for a dedicated, federal trust fund designed to pay for highway improvements on major freight corridors, Vice President Dave Osiecki said.
   The ATA outlined its recommendation for a Freight Corridors Initiative during a field hearing Feb. 20 in Southern California convened by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, as it prepares to write legislation to authorize a new six-year surface transportation policy.
   Randall Clifford, chairman of Long Beach-based Ventura Transfer Co., testified that the ATA is willing to support an increase in the 24.4-cent-per-gallon diesel fuel tax if the revenue generated by the increase is exclusively targeted to freight projects and sealed off from the rest of the Highway Trust Fund.

Osiecki

   Gas, diesel, commercial vehicle sale and tire taxes are deposited in the trust fund and dispersed to states through highway and transit grant programs. The trust fund is under stress as fuel consumption declines, revenues taper off and deferred improvements pile up.
   The trucking industry wants the money raised by the new program to help address highway congestion that is eating into its productivity. The Federal Highway Administration estimates that 326 major bottlenecks around the country cost motor carriers 226 million hours of delay in 2006. The ATA's research institute calculates the direct cost to the industry and its customers from those delays at about $19 billion per year.
   A portion of the money would also go to states that do not receive money to reduce chokepoints so they could improve interstate highways in rural areas, Clifford said.
   The Federal Highway Administration estimates that by 2020 almost 9 percent of rural highways serving the heaviest freight traffic will experience traffic tie-ups for at least part of the day.
   ATA officials say a new federal program is needed for freight corridors because they are often neglected by states, local governments and metropolitan planning organizations that focus federal aid on commuter mobility in their immediate areas without a view towards improving the connectivity of a national road system.
   'We see a larger federal role in helping to determine where those needs are and where funding should go for freight,' Osiecki told AmericanShipper.com.
   The ATA has not yet determined how much to raise the diesel tax or how much new revenue it would produce, he added. Each one-cent increase in the gas tax raises $1.9 billion for the highway program.
   Groups across the political spectrum are lining up to help shape the debate on the upcoming highway bill.
   (The National Industrial Transportation League will host an online presentation, sponsored by American Shipper, Thursday at 2-3 p.m. EST, that will highlight important aspects of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Commission's recommendations for the future of the nation's transportation infrastructure, due to be released the same day.
   The webinar is free to NIT League members and guests. Online registration is available here.)
   The American Road and Transportation Builders Association two years ago proposed the creation of a Critical Commerce Corridors program to fund freight-related infrastructure improvements. It pays for the projects through a series of user fees on motor carriers and shippers instead of a fuel tax increase.
   Clifford also called for increased support for truck parking capacity in rest areas, many of which are the victim of budget cutbacks by states, so that drivers have a safe place to sleep. And he urged Congress to rewrite federal law to require states to allow trucks with 53-foot trailers on interstate highways to access state highways or freight terminals, food, fuel and rest facilities. The problem is especially acute in California, which places severe restrictions on trucks with 53-foot trailers to access large parts of its highway system. The uniform access requirement only applies to 48-foot, or smaller, trailers. ' Eric Kulisch